What does your local planning consultant know about dentistry? Roger Gullidge

When looking to build a dental practice, many will turn to their local planning expert in order to negotiate changing the use of the building to D1. However, it is not always the case that they will be the best person for the job. The usual misconception is that because they are local they will be familiar with the planning authority and know who the ‘key players’ are. Many believe that this will benefit the project by speeding up the process of gaining planning permission. Though this can sometimes be the case, it will not always be the right choice as a non-specialist’s knowledge of D1 use buildings will be limited. The right expertise and a background in dental practices is essential when embarking on a project of this nature, so a non-specialist should not be gambled upon.

Although a specialist planner may not be familiar with the local authority, they will be very familiar with dental practices and will understand all of the requirements that a D1 use building must negotiate.

A key issue that many forget about, is that it is not just a case of getting through planning, part of the process includes getting approval from the Highway and Environmental Health Officers, who form part of the statutory consultee process. If they believe that the project may not be viable they have the right to raise an objection to the development, this can terminate the project. It is clear that although there is a lot of emphasis on planning, much attention must be paid to all statutory consultees. This will include looking at aspects such as parking and access, if you can’t fulfil these requirements you won’t have a project.

This is why it is advisable to make sure that you research all areas of the project before you start spending a lot of money. Looking at policies regarding D1 use is not an expensive task, which means that grasping a good idea of the fundamentals is possible before any serious money is spent.

It is advised that projects go through pre-consultation, especially if you are unsure if they meet all requirements. This can act as an opportunity to see how flexible the local authority will be when it comes to changing the use of the building. If you have ticked all of the boxes and you are sure that you will be granted change of use, then you may decide to go straight for a full application. However, if you are close to meeting the policies that the local authorities stipulate then it is worth going through pre-consultation. For instance, if you have four parking spaces but the local authority wants you to have five, pre-consultation will be a chance to find out if the local authority will negotiate on this aspect.

This isn’t such a concern if it can be proved that the building is in a sustainable location that has good public transport links and easy access to public parking, this may mean that you can negotiate less parking spaces on site. Obviously, this isn’t such a concern in places like central London where there are rarely parking spaces.

Every local authority will have a different core strategy or local development framework. There are also national planning policy guidelines that must be considered, but there will be certain aspects that local authorities will have as their prime considerations. One example of this is trying to gain change of use from a ground floor retail unit in a shopping centre to D1. The local authority may deem the unit to be in a primary shopping centre and will want to keep a certain percentage of the properties under A Class usage. For instance, some London boroughs insist that 75% of primary shopping parades remain as retail units. Therefore, if a Change of Use to D1 were to take the number below this percentage it would not get planning permission.

The loss of retail units is a particular concern in London, so negotiating this can be quite tricky. One way of reaching an agreement with the local authorities is to keep the frontage of the unit as partly retail, this can be done by having product displays in the front window of the practice and proving to the local authorities that you are selling to the general public as well as patients, though this still requires a change of use application to be submitted and approved.

All local authorities must work within set guidelines for determining applications, these range from 8 weeks for minor proposals to 12 weeks for major developments.  The application may take in the region of 2 weeks to register before the clock starts ticking on the determination period. An applicant should not presume that their application will be decided quickly and allow plenty of time. Pre-application advice can take up to 6 weeks depending on the Council’s workloads and are not given priority over full applications, as full applications are monitored by central government and councils (in some cases) are fined if they do not meet the deadlines.

When it comes to hiring a planning consultant, local isn’t always the best option. Though they may have a greater understanding of your local authority, they will not necessarily understand the pitfalls and unique requirements associated with gaining D1 use of a building. It is wise to seek the assistance of a specialist company like Roger Gullidge Design who has an in depth understanding of the ins and outs of designing a dental practice, which is backed up by more than 20 years of experience.

Roger Gullidge Design is a specialist design and project management consultancy specialising in the dental sector. Call 01278 784442 for more details or visit: www.rogergullidgedesign.com